A Sunbury rugby fan has made it into the Guinness World Records – along with more than 1,000 other people – after taking part in the largest rugby scrum at Twickenham.

Marcus King, 30, joined 1,007 other people – including Rugby World Cup winners Piri Weepu, Lawrence Dallaglio and Will Greenwood – to beat the previous largest scrum of 946.

Mr King said: “It was such an incredible experience, although there was a lot of waiting around and planning, as it takes a long time to organise 1,000 people, and the official who was recording the attempt made sure it was done right.”

It was all part of a publicity stunt launching the sale of tickets for next year’s Rugby World Cup.

Mr King said: “Not many people can say they were part of a world record, especially as part of a 1,000-person scrum. I got to meet rugby legends as well, so it’s fair to say I will remember that day for the rest of my life.”

In order to be recognised the scrum had to follow a number of rules including that participants had to be in three rows on either side in proportion to a normal rugby scrum. The ball was successfully fed in from the side and hooked through the back of the scrum. Mr King was invited as the assistant general manager of the Virgin Active gym at the stadium.

Rugby World Cup 2003 winner Phil Vickery said: “Being part of the world’s largest scrum today, alongside more than 1,000 people, was a fantastic experience and it was nice to run out on the Twickenham pitch again.

“Over the next year I’m sure Rugby World Cup 2015 will set plenty more records.”